Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work
Are you constantly working before or after work hours? Are you checking your phone for emails or messages all the time? Are you working through lunch? Are you feeling burned out? Are you not taking a vacation? When you take a vacation, are you still working? Are you not going to doctor appointments because you don’t want to make up the hours? Then this article is for you.
I’ve worked in corporate America for 10 years now and I’ve found exempt full-time salary employees especially fall into these routines and where working overtime on nights and weekends is rewarded and praised. It’s time to start setting boundaries.
What are boundaries? Work boundaries are setting guidelines for yourself and expectations for your employer. For example, schedule a 1-hour block during lunchtime on your calendar and mark it as busy. This way you are reminded to take a break while also showing your employer you are busy during this time and meetings won’t be scheduled. At the end of every day, set 15-30 minutes aside to plan for the next day. What tasks do you need to complete tomorrow? Block off the time on your calendar and focus on those tasks. Keep distractions away by closing your email or setting your notifications to silent. Take the work notification applications off of your phones so you won’t get pinged during your lunch break and feel obligated to answer. Schedule two 15 minute breaks throughout the day to stretch, go for a short walk, step away from your devices, or get a snack. Block off busy times before and after work hours to remind yourself to stop working.
Ask yourself, “When was the last time you took a vacation?”. You may be hesitant with this especially if you work from home and your state or country has COVID-19 guidelines, because where are you going to go? Even if you’re not physically getting away from your house, it’s important to unwind and disconnect. Refuel yourself to take on work when you come back from vacation. Is there a book you haven’t made the time to read? Read it during your stay-cation. Is there a project around the house you have wanted to do? Do it! Whatever you do, do not work. Once you start working during your vacation, then the expectation will always be set that you will do that in the future. If you’re guilty of this, don’t worry. Start setting the expectation now. Simply tell your coworkers, “I’m going on vacation from XX to XX and I won’t have access to email”. Yes, of course, almost everywhere you go, you can access email, but the point is to NOT CHECK YOUR EMAILS. Add “Should you need to contact me for emergencies only, this is my cell.” I’m even hesitant to say this because your coworkers shouldn’t be contacting you while on vacation anyway. And what is considered an emergency anyway?
I understand the fear is “well If I don’t work while on vacation, then I'll come back to tons of emails I need to go through.” While you’re probably not wrong about this, it’s going to be okay. Just block off time when you come back from vacation for 1 hour in the morning to go through emails, and then another hour at the end of the day.
Be sure to take care of yourself. Continue to go to your doctor and dentist appointments regularly and when you’re feeling sick, do not work. Take the day off to recuperate. What’s the sense in giving only 50% of yourself and the possibility of getting sicker? It’s not worth it. If you’re not taking care of yourself, who is? Your job certainly isn't.
Since I started taking this approach of boundaries at work, taken time off for myself and stopped getting notifications on my phone, I’ve been so much happier. I don’t feel like my life revolves around work. I’m not sure if this has to do with the fact that I’m located in the United Kingdom (UK) and I’m working from home versus when I was living in America and going into the office. But now, I live by this quote now that many UK residents have told me— “Work to live, don’t live to work.”
Where can you start setting work boundaries for yourself?
